History

The Mankini (pronounced man-key-nee) clan of Northern California migrated from Massarosa, Italy near the beginning of the twentieth century. Massarosa is a moderate sized town about ten minutes by train from Lucca, Italy. Originally, the name was spelled Menchini (pronounced man-key-nee) but was changed upon migration to America.

Paolino Menchini became Paul Mankini and settled in the Fresno area around 1902. His son, my grandfather, Antonio, was born January 16, 1901, and was essentially orphaned as his mother, Artemisina Landucci, died giving birth with Antonio being the only surviving child, while his father ran off to America.

Antonio stayed in Italy with his grand parents and at age eleven became Tony Mankini and went to America to find his father. By this time, his father already had a "new" family and really didn't want anything to with his son from Italy (who couldn't even speak English) but tolerated him for almost four years. At age sixteen, he joined the army and ended up in Oakland, in the San Francisco bay area which became his home.